Detailed
Description |
|
First edition of this very popular verse of the renowned Hebrew poet Saul Tchernichowsky. In two parts, Ḥezyonot u-Manginot (Visions and Melodies) published book of verse – Ḥezyonot u-Manginot ("Visions and Melodies," 1898). This full-length work reflects the poet's deep involvement with the poetry of different nations and the influence it had on both the form and the content of his original poems, as well as his translations. It is characterized by a variety of classical poetic forms and complex rhythms, Tchernichowsky's poetry reveals his sensitivity to the sound and rhythm of language and his flair for accurate epithets. In this first collection of poems, the Tchernichowsky style is already clearly expressed. While most of his contemporaries developed their style through a struggle with classical Hebrew sources, Tchernichowsky put special emphasis on formal elements in both the choice of language and forms of verse. He drew his images from direct observation. Though his style has a biblical flavor and is replete with biblical imagery, he did not draw on the multifarious traditional implications and overtones that Hebrew terms and stock phrases could yield. Tchernichowsky's concept of love and nature, major themes in Ḥezyonot u-Manginot, is in the spirit of the Romantic poets. This quality added a new dimension to contemporary Hebrew poetry. The ideological concepts of his poetry may be traced to the poet's early Haskalah education and to the influence of Zionist and Hebrew literary circles with which he associated in Odessa. His reflective poems strongly call for a revolt against the fate of the Jewish people in exile, and even more, against the futility of the people's struggle for freedom.
Saul Tchernichowsky (1875–1943), a Russian-born Hebrew poet is considered one of the great Hebrew poets, identified with nature poetry, and as a poet greatly influenced by the culture of ancient Greece. rom 1899 to 1906 he studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg, finishing his medical studies in Lausanne. From then on, he mingled his activities as a doctor with his activities as a poet. After completing his studies he returned to Ukraine to practice in Kharkov and in Kiev. In the First World War he served as an army doctor in Minsk and in Saint Petersburg.
From 1925 to 1932 he was one of the editors of the newspaper Hatekufa. He also edited the section on medicine in the Hebrew encyclopedia Eshkol. From 1929 to 1930 he spent time in America. In 1931 he immigrated to the Land of Israel and settled there permanently. Besides being a poet, Tchernichovsky was known as an excellent translator. His translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey particularly earned recognition. He also translated Sophocles, Horace, Shakespeare, Moliere, Pushkin, Goethe, Heine, Byron, Shelley, the Kalevala, the Gilgamesh Cycle, the Icelandic Edda, etc. Tchernichovsky served as doctor of the Herzliya Hebrew High School in Tel Aviv. In his later years he served as doctor for the Tel Aviv schools. He was active in writers' organizations and a member of the Committee of the Hebrew Language. He was also the editor of the Hebrew terminology manual for medicine and the natural sciences. He was a friend of the distinguished Klausner family of Jerusalem, including the child who would grow up to become the novelist Amos Oz, to whom he was "Uncle Shaul." Shaul Tchernichovsky died in Jerusalem on 14 October 1943. After his death, the Tel Aviv municipality dedicated a prize for exemplary translation in his name. A school in Tel Aviv is named after him, as is the center for the Hebrew writers association in Israel. Many other towns in Israel have also named streets and schools after him.
|
